Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Game 110: Baltimore at Toronto

The good doctor needs some help. Ever since coming back from that pesky groin injury, Roy Halladay has not had much love from his offense. He takes the mound today against the O’s looking for win No. 12, but he can’t do it alone.

Consider…

Over Doc’s last seven starts, the man has logged 54 innings with two complete games and three outings in which he punched in for nine frames. He has compiled 48 strikeouts against eight walks, including no free passes issued to the last 73 batters he has faced.

Along the way, Halladay has thrown 68 percent of his pitches for strikes, fashioned a 1.31 grounder-to-flyball ratio and posted a 3.17 ERA (bloated by the fact that 7 ER came between innings 7-9 while Halladay tried to buy more time for his lineup to go to work).

For all of his work, Halladay has posted a 1-4 record over the last seven starts and the Jays have gone 1-6 in that span. Toronto has given Doc just 18 runs of support (2.6 per game) over that period with no more than three runs in each his last five trips up the hill.

It’s been very reminiscent of last season, when the Blue Jays gave Halladay just 23 runs to work with across his 11 losses. Today, the Orioles send rookie Brian Matusz (fourth overall pick in the 2008 Draft) to the mound as Doc’s opponent. Halladay has been great in his career against the O’s, going 19-4 with a 2.92 ERA, but he needs some assistance.

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The Vegas 51’s played the Iowa Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago today, part of the Cubs planned marketing of their affiliated minor league league clubs (which is a great idea).

Although, the 51’s lost the game 5-4, Travis Snider continued his hitting tirade by hitting two home runs over the ivy in deep right center. Travis is hitting .487 over the last 10 games with 6 singles, 8 doubles, 5 home runs, 6 walks and 16 rbi’s. Dopirak, who’s cooled off over the last 4 games went 1-4 and is now hitting .323/.358/.535.

There was 16,280 fans at Wrigley to view the event…..If the Jays want to grow baseball in Canada why don’t they consider having some Auburn or Lansing games in Southern Ontario, Some New Hampshire games in the Maritimes and and some Vegas games in Vancouver/Calgary, etc.

In response to the Iowa Cubs game at Wrigley, it’s an interesting idea but I don’t see it really applying to the Blue Jays.

I’d imagine the goal was to drum up interest about Cubs fans in Chicago for the AAA team in the hopes that more of them make the not-so-far trip to neighbouring Iowa.

This would make sense for the Jays if the AAA team were still in Syracuse, but not so much with them being in Vegas – though with all the other attractions in Vegas, you could pitch gambling/baseball weekend junkets to Toronto fans.

It would be interesting I suppose, for the young players to experience the big league stadium and the fans to see the top prospects – but would fans really come in Toronto? Somehow I doubt it.

On a similar topic, I wish some of the Las Vegas 51’s games were broadcast in Canada, think you might have more interest there.

I didn’t suggest bringing any of the teams into Toronto, maybe Hamilton or London for the Auburn or Lansing teams. I would have the Vegas team play in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
The concept is to build interest in the Jays on a national basis. The point is if Rogers can build their broadcast audience the ratings goes up and revenue goes up.I think it would have huge impact for Rogers and build interest in the Jays on a national basis.
You can listen to all 51’s as well as New Hampshire, Dunedin and Lansing games no charge through the internet, you’ll find the connection on their web site under the multi media button. If you have difficulty locating this, let me know and I’ll post the links.

MiLB tv is available for the same teams. The games that are televised are shown over the internet on MiLB TV. It’s not the greatest broadcast quality, but you’ll love the announcers. Generally speaking, you can watch as many minor league games as you want for $6.95 per month. A link to this service is below.

Sounds like trade talks are heating up with Chicago on Alex Rios. If I had my druthers, I’d rather see Wells dealt instead, even if we picked up the difference between the two contracts. Rios, imo, has more upside than Wells, is younger and his contract can be managed in future years. Sooner or later we’re going to take a hit on Wells, it might as well be now.

Quote: Rios, imo, has more upside than Wells. I imagine that is why the Cubs would have claimed him rather than Wells. Unfortunately, if Rios is dealt, there goes one of our two speed merchants, and the Jays lose some of their ability to manufacture runs. Unless, of course, Reed Johnson becomes part of the trade.
IMO, the Jays don’t pay enough attention to speed. Speed shows up every day, doesn’t go into slumps, and can win ball games for you. Just ask Joe Maddon.

Indigo
I agree, but that isn’t going to happen until the new President comes in. If you add it all up, its a huge number.
Enigma
Remember when they talked about the Lincecum trade, Rios wasn’t signed to this contract. Also, Snider who will replace Rios has much more upside and funds are freed up for other purposes. It had just better not be JP making the decisions on who to sign and how much to pay him.

Indigo
I agree, but that isn’t going to happen until the new President comes in. If you add it all up, its a huge number.
Enigma
Remember when they talked about the Lincecum trade, Rios wasn’t signed to this contract. Also, Snider who will replace Rios has much more upside and funds are freed up for other purposes. It had just better not be JP making the decisions on who to sign and how much to pay him.

How the heck couldn’t they get anything for him ? I don’t understand this at all. This news pisses me off. They better do something with that money this offseason (Rolen’s + Rios’) Either go after someone like Bay this offseason or completely rebuild. To go from almost having Tim Lincecum for him to getting nothing is aggravating, I obviously didn’t expect a Tim Lincecum this time around but a guy with some upside would’ve been nice. If according to J.P. they wanted them to eat some salary then keep him and see if other teams are interested in the offseason. To do this now makes little sense in my opinion.

I totally agree with you . First they take a quiet , hard working pitcher ( Halladay) and toss his name out there creating a circus sideshow . I believe it not only effected Doc but the whole team …..the team flatlined. Now they give Rios away for nothing . Riccardi keeps saying its not a money thing but how can anyone believe a word he spews . Can anyone tell me why Riccardi is still a GM ?

“Seems doubtful that Travis Snider will get the call from AAA. Jays don’t need an OF right away. Maybe a guy like Randy Ruiz will get a look.”

If this is the case, this is seriously a dumb move. Although Ruiz has had a career year in AAA, he’s 32 in October and a first baseman. But Snider is playing tonight and Ruiz isn’t in the starting lineup.

GS while i’m really excited about Travis’ potential I still don’t think it’s right that they gave Rios for nothing. Travis can move into right field next year but then who plays left ? If it’s Lind who DH’s ? You’re likely right in that it could be Beeston’s call but I don’t like how they’re claiming that they want to contend next year and have just created a big hole.

Enigma
They’re not going to contend next year, unless they dump both Overbay and Wells and get damn lucky.
Snider will produce more offense than Rios and cost 10 million less. BUT, we still need a 1st baseman with power ( hopefully Dopirak), a 3rd baseman who can hit in the 4th hole and a lead off guy-assuming we don’t resign Scutaro. We also need all our pitchers to be healthy.

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